Saoradh offices raided

A raid on the headquarters of the republican party Saoradh in Belfast has been described as an act of oppression amid the political upheaval of recent weeks.

The party’s offices on the Falls Road were raided on Monday. A convoy of PSNI armoured vehicles were involved in the raid which lasted over two hours.

Saoradh expressed anger at what they described as the “ransacking” of their national offices.

“We absolutely condemn this grotesque act of political oppression and demand that those who authorised it be held to account for doing so,” they said.

“We provide a platform for the Irish people to struggle for national liberation. We will not be suppressed nor criminalised by the armed wing of Stormont and British rule in Ireland.”

They blamed MI5 as well as the PSNI for the raid, which they linked to a period of “state-directed harassment, slander and subterfuge” since its formation last September. They also said the attack showed the true attitude of British forces to republican politics.

“Those who promote the British Crown Forces locally should take note of this attack on the democratic right to organise politically and impart one’s political opinion, instead of acting as cheerleaders and mouthpieces for the armed wing of British imperialism in Ireland.”

Republican prisoners linked to Saoradh also condemned the raid and said it would not deter their comrades.

Describing the PSNI as “the armed militia of unionism maintained to enforce British rule in Ireland”, they said the action “reflects the broader policies being implemented by the British State; to attack opposition to the status quo, and to preserve the process of normalisation.”

Urgent Appeal